Currently there is no paved road from the public highway to the top of the mountain. The road construction work is expected to take 16 months and will provide access to the summit for the future construction work on the giant telescope.

Once complete, the road will be 11 metres wide in total, with an asphalt paved driveway of 7 metres width.

ICAFAL will also be responsible for the levelling of the top of the mountain later this year and additional civil works. The peak must be modified to create a platform to construct the telescope and other supporting facilities.

The start of telescope operations is planned for early in the next decade, when the E-ELT will begin to tackle the biggest astronomical challenges of our time. The giant telescope will allow an exciting exploration of completely unknown realms of the Universe. It will be the largest optical/near-infrared telescope in the world: “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.